Comparing the Education Bills

With Senate approval last week of its version of the reauthorization
of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act—the House finished
its bill in May—responsibility will now fall to a House-Senate
conference committee to bridge the differences. Here are highlights of
the two bills the committee will be considering.

The House Bill: HR
1

The Senate Bill: S
1

ESEA Authorization level for fiscal 2002: $23
billion

Testing: States, within three years, must design and begin
giving annual reading and mathematics tests for all students in
grades 3-8. To ensure rigor, states must use either the National
Assessment of Educational Progress or some other national test,
such as the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills, to confirm progress on
their own tests.

Accountability: States and districts must ensure that all
students score at a state-defined "proficient" level within 12
years. Each state must set annual achievement targets for each
subgroup of students—such as members of racial and ethnic
minorities and students with limited English proficiency—to
reach the 12 year goal.
School improvement: Failing schools that have not made
"adequate yearly progress" for one year receive technical help and
must develop two-year plans for improvement. Districts with such
schools must offer public school choice. After two years of no
progress, districts must take certain corrective actions, such as
replacing certain staff members. Districts must still offer public
school choice and must provide transportation for students
exercising that option. After three years of failure, a school
faces more aggressive intervention, such as "reconstitution," a
state takeover, or conversion to a charter school. Public school
choice, with transportation, continues. Also, parents may direct
the failing school to pay for private tutoring using a portion of
the school's federal money.
Reading: Authorizes $900 million in fiscal 2002 to provide help
to states and districts in establishing research-based reading
programs for children in grades K-3. Creates an Early Reading First
competitive-grant program to enhance reading readiness for children
in high-poverty areas.
"Straight A's" demonstration: Up to 100 school
districts—but no states—may combine funds from several
major ESEA programs in exchange for negotiating five-year
performance agreements with the Department of Education.
Teacher Quality:Merges
the existing class-size-reduction and Eisenhower
professional-development programs into a new, flexible grant
program to improve teacher quality.
Bilingual education: Consolidates several existing bilingual
education programs into a new, flexible grant initiative
distributed by a formula, rather than on a competitive basis.
Eliminates the current requirement that 75 percent of federal aid
be used to support programs using a child's native language for
instruction. States must move children out of classes for
limited-English-proficient students within three years.
Transferability: Districts, with state approval, may transfer
up to 50 percent of federal funding among a select group of large
programs. Current law permits up to 5 percent. Money may not be
removed from the Title I program, but may be transferred into
it.

ESEA Authorization level for fiscal
2002:$33billion

Testing: States, within three years, must design and
implement annual reading and mathematics tests for all students in
grades 3-8. To ensure rigor, states must use the National
Assessment of Educational Progress to confirm progress on their own
tests.
Accountability: States and districts must ensure that all
students score at a state-defined "proficient" level within 10
years. Each state must devise a detailed system for determining
"adequate yearly progress" that weighs whether each subgroup of
students is making progress toward the 10-year goal and that gives
extra weight to two groups: those that were furthest from the
"proficient" level, and those that made the greatest improvement.
Districts and schools are still identified as failing—even if
they meet that formula—if each subgroup achieves less than a
1 percent gain toward the "proficient" level in reading and math
annually.
School improvement: Failing schools that have not made adequate
progress after one year receive technical help. After the third
year, a failing school must pay transportation costs to help
students attend another public school, if the students choose.
Also, parents may direct the school to pay for private tutoring
using a portion of the school's federal money. At least one
intervention by the district in the failing school is also
required, such as reopening it as a charter school, replacing
relevant staff members, or beginning a new curriculum. After five
years, districts would be required in the case of such schools to
take one of several actions, including reopening as a charter
school, replacing all or most of its staff, or turning over its
operations to another entity.
Reading: Authorizes $900 million in fiscal 2002 to provide help
to states and districts in establishing research-based reading
programs for children in grades K-3. Creates an Early Reading First
competitive-grant program to enhance reading readiness for children
in high-poverty areas.
"Straight A's" demonstration: Allows seven states and 25
districts to combine money from several major ESEA programs in
exchange for negotiating five-year performance agreements with the
Department of Education.
Teacher quality: Merges the existing class-size-reduction and
Eisenhower professional-development programs into a new, flexible
grant program to improve teacher quality.
Special education: Shifts funding for the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act from the discretionary to the mandatory
side of the federal budget. Aims to lock in up to $181 billion in
aid over the next decade, a dramatic increase.
Bilingual education: Consolidates current programs into a
smaller set of flexible programs still distributed on a competitive
basis.

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